


Wrong Feeling

by GH0STZONED (GH0STPUNK)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Author is Nonbinary, Coming Out, Gen, Oneshot, Trans Danny Fenton, idk what to tag this as... i never use ao3, nonbinary danny, nonbinary tucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24802852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GH0STPUNK/pseuds/GH0STZONED
Summary: Danny has had a strange, uncomfortable feeling for the last few months, and now with people becoming more aware of his herosim, it seems like it's gotten worse.Is it just the attention thats bothering him? or is it something else entirely?nonbinary!danny oneshot
Comments: 12
Kudos: 135





	Wrong Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here it is! I told you I'd write it!  
> Sorry it isn't that long.. I'm still working on writing longer things, but I hope this is good for now! I might make this a twoshot if people like it enough!
> 
> Anyways, this is heavily based off of how I came out as/found out I was nonbinary, so I hope its a bit relatable for some other folks who went through the same process I did!
> 
> thats all for now, so please enjoy!

“Hmm.. It doesn’t feel right.”

Danny said, quite suddenly, into the Fenton Phones, catching both Sam and Tucker by surprise as they struggled to hold down a writhing ghost eel with Fenton ghost fishers.

“What do you mean, dude? Some kinda ghostly premonition?” Tucker asked only half jokingly as he tugged on the Fenton fisher again- When it came to Danny [and more specifically, his ghostly instincts], something like that could be a real possibility.

“No, no, nothing like that.. I don’t know how to describe it.” Danny waved a gloved hand at the boy somewhat dismissively, seemingly lost in thought as he fired an ectoblast with his other hand at the eel's body, causing it to thrash in anger.

Something just didn’t feel _right_.

Danny couldn’t figure it out; ever since the accident a few months ago, he had felt a strange, nagging feeling itching at the back of his skull- like a tickle in your throat that just won’t go away.

He’d done his best to ignore it for awhile, and he had gotten pretty good at it- But now that his ghostly half was starting to gain more recognition [good and bad] it felt like that itching had only increased sevenfold.

  
It no longer felt like an itch, instead, it felt more like a rash.

“Well, can you choose another time to figure it out? We’re skinny teenagers, not bodybuilders.” Sam growled into Danny’s headpiece, her voice strained as she pulled tighter on the fisher, snapping Danny out of his daze while the anti-ghost line cut into the eel’s slippery spectral skin.

“Ah- sorry about that!” the halfa squeaked, his voice cracking slightly and causing him to flush green with embarrassment as he pulled out a Fenton thermos.

In no time, the ghostly aquatic creature was sucked up into the thermos, and the small, late night crowd that had gathered to watch the fight cheered.

“Good goin’, ghost boy!”  
  
“Ghost boy! Can I have an autograph?!”

“Ghost boy!”

Danny felt the itch increase, and he rubbed the back of his neck sub-consciously as he floated down to the ground to meet his two friends, both of which were busy reeling in glowing fishing lines.

“Still not a fan of the attention, huh?” Tucker teased as he noticed his friend’s nervous quirk, an eyebrow raising as he reeled in the last of his line and gave the half ghost a smack on the shoulder, a common symbol of their comradery.

“Yeah.. I guess so.” Danny responded hesitantly- He wasn’t exactly sure if that was the case though.

Frankly, he didn’t really mind the attention all that much. In fact, he could even argue that he _enjoyed_ the positive attention he got as Phantom, god knows he was starved for it before he got his powers.

So why did everyone calling out to him as “ghost boy” feel so… uncomfortable?

“So, did you wanna talk about that weird feeling you’ve got? Should we get ready for another fight?” Sam asked, waving the Fenton fisher over her head a couple of times as Danny walked up to her and put his hand around her waist. He did the same to Tucker when the boy ran up to them.

“No, It’s nothing like that… I think I’m just tired, let's get out of here.” he responded, equal parts quick as it was weary, he decided not to burden his best friends with his strange feelings anymore.

Besides, if it's a ghost thing, what could they even do to make it better? There's no point in bugging them over silly things.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a concerned glance as Danny lifted them all into the sky, leaving behind the crowd and the shouts of ‘ghost boy!’ as they slipped into invisibility.  
  
Danny couldn’t help but cringe at the nickname.

* * *

After dropping off Sam and Tucker, Danny wasted no time practically jumping up the stairs and slipping into his room, making sure to close the door as quietly as possible before he flopped onto his bed.

He was having strange feelings, and he knew whenever there was feelings involved, it was bound to attract-

_Knock knock knock._

“Danny, can I come in?”

Jazz Fenton, Amity Park’s teen queen of psychology, here to psychoanalyze whatever living half was left of him to death.

Should he even bother letting her in? He had every right to completely ignore her, maybe even pretend he was sleeping- that’ll get her off his case.

“Sure, Jazz, come in.”

Jeez, he was such a pushover sometimes.

The door creaked as Jazz peeked her head through, her shock of ginger hair swaying as she tilted her head to the side before pushing open the door entirely.

Coming to sit down beside her brother, she frowned at him, her expression laced with concern.  
  
 _Oh, great._ Danny thought with an inward sigh. _This isn’t just gonna be a lecture on why I’m home so late, then._

“Danny… You’ve been acting kind of strange lately.. Is there something going on?” Jazz asked with a voice thick with worry.

Out of the pan and into the fire it is, then.  
  
“There isn’t anything going on, Jazz, you ask this kinda thing every week, doesn’t it get old?” Danny responded flippantly, picking at a piece of fuzz stuck to his space patterned comforter.

“Danny…” Jazz started in a stern tone, but merely sighed in defeat. Danny couldn’t help but smirk smugly at her.

“Can you at least tell me what's going on? You know you aren’t as slick as you think when it comes to hiding your emotions.” she added the last part with a smug smirk of her own, though it looked more like a cringe than anything else.

“Fine, fine. But only because that last smile looked like it caused you physical pain.” Danny relented, earning him a ‘hey!’ and a light smack on the shoulder.

“It’s just that… I’ve been feeling really weird ever since the portal incident, maybe even before then.”

This caused Jazz to take on a serious expression, her teal eyes focused on her little brother as she studied his face.

“Strange how? Do you think it’s a ghost thing?” she asked, and Danny shook his head- though, like with Tucker earlier, it was hesitant.

“I don’t really know... But for awhile I’ve felt like something’s been.. _Wrong_. Especially the past month, it feels like it keeps getting worse.” Danny tried to explain, gesturing loosely a couple of times for emphasis.

“I don’t know… It just feels like everything is _off_ somehow.”

Jazz seemed to ponder this for a moment, her eyes moving from Danny to her lap as she crossed her arms in thought.

“Maybe it’s all the attention you’re getting? Maybe it’s making your anxiety worse.”

That's true, maybe he was just feeling anxious about all the attention, whether he liked it or not- and the accident was more than enough to make _anyone_ perpetually anxious for the rest of their life.

But for some reason, that didn’t feel right either.

“No, it’s something else entirely..” Danny murmured, and Jazz nodded, silently encouraging him to continue.  
“It kinda feels like.. Before I figured out I was trans.”

Jazz made a little ‘o’ sound, then nodded a bit more quickly, urging him to continue with what he had to say- when it came to Danny being open with other people, it would be stupid to interrupt him now.

  
Danny Fenton had been out of the closet for at least a year or two now as a trans man, and Jazz had been the first one he had told, after that, his friends and parents, in that order.  
He had been almost impossible to get through to, quickly closing himself off after he came out and refusing to share how he had felt with Jazz before then.

It was no surprise that it had taken him this long to tell her about this, now that she thought about it.

“It's just.. When people on the street call me ‘ghost boy’. I know it should feel fine, I should be _happy_ about it! But… for some reason, it still feels _weird_ , almost like being called the ghost _girl_ .” Danny rambled, keeping his gaze trained on his knees.  
“N-Not that it’s the same as being called a girl, it's way better than being called a ghost girl! It's just that..” Danny let out a sigh.  
“It still feels off somehow.”

Jazz took this information in slowly, the gears in her brain turning as she thought more and more about it.  
The closed-offness, the timidness, it all made sense now.  
This was exactly how Danny had been before he had come out as trans.

“Hmm.. D’you think maybe you were wrong about your identity?” Jazz asked, to which Danny rewarded her with a glare.  
  
“I’m _not_ a girl, Jazz. Never have been and never will be.” he retorted sharply, his eyes flashing green for only a split second before settling back into their regular sky blue hue.

“I wasn’t saying that. Sorry, I should’ve been more clear.” Jazz responded quickly, putting up her hands in a sign of peace. Danny responded with an annoyed grunt at this.

“What I’m trying to say is.. Well.. Have you ever heard of the term nonbinary, Danny?”

Danny perked slightly at this- yes, he’d heard about the term more than once before- in fact, Tucker was nonbinary, he’d said so himself. Though he was fine with using male pronouns/titles anyways, he had assured Danny of this the first time he’d told him about it.

What’d that have to do with this, though?

“Yeah.. I’ve heard it before..” Danny said with a small nod, dropping his icy attitude and giving his sister his full attention again.

“Well.. Have you ever considered that maybe that's the right label for you?” Jazz offered politely, tilting her head to the side a bit.

“I mean.. It’s your call, but after what you’ve told me, maybe it’s worth looking into?”

Danny blinked in surprise- he’d never thought of that.

He played around with the label in his head- ghost kid.. sibling.. He thought about all kinds of gender neutral names and titles.  
He thought about using they and them pronouns.

‘that ghost kid, they’re really strong!’

‘Danny said they were free tonight!’

‘Is Danny okay? They haven’t texted me since that last ghost fight.’

Using these words in his head.. Replaying them over and over again.. they almost felt… _right._

Danny wasn’t sure how long he sat there contemplating it, but it was apparently long enough for Jazz to stand up and pat him on the shoulder, telling him he should probably get some sleep.

She was right, he could feel himself starting to nod off, even while all these exciting things were happening in his mind.

As Danny curled up on his bed, Jazz pulled the sheets up over him, tucking him in with a soft smile.

And as Danny drifted off, he heard his sister whisper something before shutting the door.  
  
“Goodnight, little sibling.”

* * *

“Hey guys, I think I wanna buy a skirt for Phantom.”

This statement was met with stares from both of Danny’s best friends, Tucker with half a meat sandwich in his mouth as they sat in the back of the school, hanging out in their usual lunch spot.

“Foh weal? You’w weally gohna do it?” Tucker asked while he stuffed the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. Sam cringed at the sight of it.

“What I think he’s trying to say is.. You’re really going through with this?” Sam translated with a hint of disgust in her tone, her violet eyes glancing away from Tucker beside her and instead settling on her half-ghost friend across from her.

“Yeah.. I think I’m ready for it. I’m actually kind of excited just thinking about it.” Danny responded with a smile, their hands fiddling with a particularly long blade of grass that was growing in front of them.

It had been about three weeks since Danny had had their conversation with Jazz about their identity, and only five days after that conversation before they told Sam and Tucker that they were nonbinary.

It was a strange and new change, but it felt comfortable this way. They felt better in their own skin, much more than they had before.  
Danny knew that they were still going to use male pronouns, and they were okay with that- but for now, they had asked their friends and sister to only use they/them, just until they could feel comfortable with he/him again.

And recently, Danny had been wanting to try something even bolder- they wanted to add a skirt to their Phantom outfit.  
  
Sure, it wasn’t necessary, but _man_ would it be euphoric as hell to wear that during their ghost fights, maybe they’d even be able to tell the whole town about their gender identity.. As Phantom of course.

The thing is, they hadn’t really had the confidence to pull anything more than a couple of gender related puns and some small pronoun corrections here and there.  
  
At least, until today.

Tucker clapped his hands together with a grin, something that caused Sam to nearly choke on her food, before he practically bounced out of his sitting position in excitement.

“Hell yeah! Finally we can do something about that boring old jumpsuit you’re always wearing!” he exclaimed, slapping Danny on the back and momentarily knocking the wind out of them.

Sam nodded in agreement with Tucker, a smile crossing her face as well as she finished her food and set the container aside.  
“I’ve got tons of skirts at home that’ll fit your jumpsuits colour scheme _perfectly._ No need to buy anything, you can pick out whatever you want.” she said, joining Tucker in smacking her already winded friend in the back.

“T-thanks guys!” Danny gasped, grinning widely at their friends as they both went to pack up their lunch waste.

They sat back and stared up at the sky- a lunch gone by without a single ghostly encounter, and things were looking up.

Danny watched their friends bicker over how much waste Tucker had left behind [and how little Sam did in comparison], and they couldn’t help but feel a wave of warmth wash over them.

As they parted with their friends so they could each go to their separate classes, Danny smiled.

This felt _right._


End file.
